Well, again, good evening everybody. Something peaceful about an outdoor Mass,
isn't there? I've been having a lot of these in southern California.
All of our liturgies have to be outdoors, but there's
something very peaceful and prayerful about them.
And, once again, please know how thrilled I am to be with you, and it
does my heart so much good to see all of you gathered here
at this great Catholic university, where the Spirit of the Lord is so
palpably alive. It's a thrill for me to be here with you,
and especially on the vigil of this great feast day.
Of course, I was due here back in May, before the whole world was turned upside
down. But I'm delighted I can be here now on
the Vigil of the Feast of the Assumption. May the Blessed Mother be in our hearts
and minds powerfully tonight. All the readings are
wonderful tonight. Brief, too, aren't they, but they're all
wonderful. But I want to focus especially on that first reading
from First Chronicles, which speaks to us of the Ark of the Covenant.
So the Ark had fallen into the hands of the Philistines,
and then it comes back finally into the possession of Israel.
And David, in one of the most important moves of his
kingly career, decides to bring the Ark into his new capital city of Jerusalem.
He wanted to unite the nation: not just politically, not just militarily,
but he wanted above all to unite this nation of Israel around the right praise
of God. And so we hear in a great
liturgical celebration, they bring the Ark into the capital city.
Many years ago, when I was a doctoral student in Paris,
I used to give tours at Notre Dame, one reason it breaks my heart to see Notre
Dame so compromised now from that fire last year.
But every Wednesday, I would gather there with tourists from all over the
English-speaking world, and I'd give tours. You know, the group that that handled the
tours told all the tour guides: "Now, don't talk about religion, just tell
them how tall the building is, and when it was built." And I never listened
to that. I used it as an occasion to preach. You
know, I was studying over there, but didn't have a chance to preach that
often, so i would do it at Notre Dame. Well, one
place I always stopped with my tour groups was in front of the
left portal on the main facade of Notre Dame.
There's a lovely statue of the Blessed Mother holding the Christ Child,
and then above her head is a depiction of the Ark of the Covenant. I told the
people: that's a very ancient association going back to the Church fathers.
As the Ark carried these great symbols of God's presence:
the Ten Commandments, the Staff of Aaron, etc.
Mary is the ark par excellence because she carries
in her own womb the very Word of God Incarnate. Mary is the true
Ark of the Covenant. One of my favorite associations (of course, the gospels are
filled with this association) but we hear in second Samuel that David
does a great festive dance before the Ark, as it's brought into the city.
And who imitates him but John the Baptist in his mother's womb,
leaping for joy. Doing a sort of infant's version of
David's dance, in the presence of the true Ark of the
Covenant. How wonderful everybody, all you
graduates, everybody here, that we are gathered again in a
festive liturgical celebration around the Ark of the Covenant.
Around Mary, the Mother of God. How beautiful, how appropriate, that we do it.
Well, what does this mean, if we unpack it? This connection between Mary and the Ark.
Maybe some of the older folks here in the faculty, I'm not sure the young people
will remember the name Sister Wendy Beckett. Remember her? Sister
Wendy was a cloistered, a contemplative sister from England. But,
some years ago now, she did a wonderful series on the history of art on PBS.
And, of course, she was especially good on religious art.
And she said something once about Michelangelo's roman Pieta that I've
never forgotten. And, in fact, I can't look at the Pieta
without seeing what she made me see. You know, in
this great sculpture, Mary is much bigger than Jesus, and it's part
of Michelangelo's genius that he makes the figures look so natural
together. But Mary is a much bigger figure than Jesus.
Sister Wendy said:
"Mary is like a great mountain, and Jesus like a river running down the
mountain." Now, I challenge you, once you get
that in your mind, look at the Pieta, and be unable to see that.
You see what it means, not, of course, that Mary's greater than Jesus, of course not.
What it means, though, is that Mary is, in this
privileged way, the means by which the grace of Christ
comes to us. She's the mountain down which this great river
flows. She's the privileged bearer of the presence of Christ to us.
She's the Ark of the Covenant.
Hans Urs von Balthasar, you know, talks about the three basic
forms of the Christian life. There's the Petrine form, that means the
the life of office and leadership. There's the Pauline form, that's the life
of proclamation, evangelization, teaching. Then, there's the
Johannine form, that means the life of contemplation,
mysticism, liturgy, prayer. Those three great archetypes of the
Christian life. But, says Balthasar, all three of them
nest within this great Matrix Mater, this great
Matrix of the Marian form.
What's the Marian form? Well, we heard it, didn't we, in the Gospel?
The woman says, well, how blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at
which you nursed. Blessed rather, says Jesus, the one who
hears the Word of God and keeps it. What's the Marian form? What's this
matrix in which all of Christian life unfolds,
but the openness to the Word of God.
Balthasar uses in his German the word Bereitschaft,
which means something like readiness.
I hear you're a very good tennis team here at Steubenville, is that right?
Look at - tennis is a good example here, because think of a tennis player.
A tennis player needs Bereitschaft, means needs readiness. Because, you don't know
is the ball going to come left, the right, forehand, backhand? Is it going to come short,
going to come long, drop shot, lob shot, top spin,
side spin? You don't know, which means as you're ready,
you got to be in position to go anywhere that ball
dictates. You're out of shape, you don't have tennis readiness.
Well then, you might be lucky if your opponent happens to hit it to your
forehand, but you're pretty limited in range, right?
Well, see, what's the Marian form but, this spiritual Bereitschaft, this spiritual
readiness to follow the prompting of the word of God, no
matter what that might be. So, I look at all of you, now,
beginning of your career is the beginning of your mission.
How blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.
That's how Mary channels to us the grace of her Son. You know, as you
guys go out into the world, you're going into a world characterized
by what i call the culture of self-invention. I mean, the
common view today is that, you know, the individual
makes up his own mind. I decide what's true.
I decide what's good. Don't tell me what to do.
But, see, biblical people stand afford that culture, don't we?
Because, we know the deepest joy comes not from
petty self-invention, but rather from listening
to that word of God, and having a permanent attitude of openness
to it. Readiness to respond to it. That's what I think you, especially
graduates tonight, should learn from this Marian example.
You know, a second connection I want to make:
You see the Ark of the Covenant in the 11th chapter of the book of Revelation.
John, the seer, it's as though heaven opens up and he sees into the heavenly
temple, and he sees there the Ark of the
Covenant. And then, in chapter 12, so following
directly upon that vision, we have the marvelous scene of the woman
clothed with the sun, and with the 12 starred
crown on her head. And then, we hear of the great battle
between that woman and the dragon, remember? Chapter 12 of
Revelation. What's being associated there? But, the
Ark of the Covenant, Mary the Mother of God, and the great
spiritual struggle. You know, ancient Israel would often
bring the Ark into battle.
Bringing, as it were, the presence of God with them as they fought.
Still true. You know, when I preach on the Ascension of the Lord, I often say:
The Ascension does not mean that Jesus has gone
up, up and away. Goodbye, Jesus. He's gone away from us.
No, no, no. Same is true of the Assumption of Mary.
Oh, she's gone up, far away from us. If I can stay with that military
metaphor for a moment. Not that they've gone far away, but
rather: they've gone to a higher point of vantage
from which they can see the entire field, across space and time,
that they might direct the great operation of the Church.
Read, now, the Acts of the Apostles under that rubric. It begins with the Ascension
of the Lord, and then it shows how the ascended Lord
directs the work of his Church.
So Mary, the Mother of God, the Ark of the Covenant,
assumed into heaven has not gone away from us,
but rather to gather us under her banner. Think, now, of Mary at Tepeyac. Think of
Mary at Fatima.Think of Mary at Lourdes. Over and over again,
up and down the tradition. Mary, not far away,
but intimately involved in the great fighting work of the Church in the world.
We're sending you out: young warriors, filled with the spirit of Christ, to fight
under the banner of the ascended Lord, of Mary assumed into heaven.
Now, with the weapons of the world? Course not.
Nothing as puny as that. What does Paul say? Fasten the belt of
truth around your waist. Put on the breastplate of righteousness.
With all of these, take the shield of faith, take the helmet
of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the
Word of God. That's how you go forth, graduates,
that's how you go forth. Yes, under the aegis of Mary
assumed into heaven, Mary, the Ark of the Covenant.
My great spiritual hero is Saint Thomas Aquinas.
Thomas speaks in the Secunda Secundae in the Summa
of magnanimitas, so we say magnanimity in English. It's
a beautiful word, isn't it? From magna anima: great soul.
By the way, Sanskrit stands behind Latin, to a degree. They called Gandhi "Mahatma
Gandhi," right? Well, mahatma sounds like magna
anima, doesn't it? Means the same thing: the great soul. A magnanimous person
is great soul, and Thomas specifies what that means.
That means someone who aspires to do those things which deserve the greatest
honor. Now, mind you, that's not a love of honor.
It's the love of those things that merit high honor.
And then, he specifies further, that means doing hard things, difficult things.
The magnanimous person does not shrink from the moral and spiritual challenge.
Rather, he or she welcomes them.
Give me a hard task. Yes, that's what I want, not something easy that's for the
pucillanimus, right? Pusilla anima: those who have little souls.
You know, I know about Franciscan University from a distance, but
everything that I've heard, and from the many graduates I do know:
this is a place where magnanimous people are formed, and shaped, and educated.
Great souled people. Can I urge you today under the aegis of
Mary assumed into heaven, the Ark of the Covenant
to go forth from this ceremony with the great souls that have been formed here.
And, under her banner, do the great work of the Church,
which is so desperately needed in the world.
Again, everybody thank you for the degree that you gave me, which
means a great deal to me, and God bless you all.